At the eleventh hour, Bridgewater filed notice with the Massachusetts Gaming Commission of its intent to enter into arbitration with Raynham Park after unsuccessfully attempting to hash out a surrounding community agreement for slots mitigation.

Bridgewater is the only community statewide to go to arbitration after failing to reach a slots mitigation agreement.

Negotiations were ongoing behind the scenes even as the Bridgewater Town Council held its regular meeting Tuesday evening, Dutton said.

"We went back and forth with negotiations. I think both sides realized we should file notice though we will continue to negotiate," Dutton said Wednesday morning.

Back in November, the Gaming Commission granted Bridgewater's petition to be designated a "surrounding community" after Raynham Park refused to assign the designation voluntarily.

Bridgewater was the only one of Raynham Park's five official "surrounding communities" that had to go that route.

"We're having a hard time understanding how we could be the town that essentially shares the longest border with Raynham and yet not be a surrounding community," Dutton said.

Under state law, surrounding communities are municipalities in proximity to a host community which the Gaming Commission determines "experience or are likely to experience impacts," according to the Gaming Commission's website.

Bridgewater is also the only town that shares a school system with Raynham, Dutton said. In addition to traffic and public safety impacts, the slots facility could have a profound impact on the school district if Raynham suddenly finds itself flush with mitigation cash, while Bridgewater has no such boost to its revenue. The imbalance could put a great strain on the regional relationship, he said.

Raynham Park voluntarily granted surrounding community status to Easton, West Bridgewater, Taunton and Middleboro. Raynham Park also turned down Dighton's request to be designated a surrounding community but the Gaming Commission denied Dighton's appeal on the same day it granted Bridgewater's.

Not only did Raynham Park agree to designate the other four municipalities as "surrounding communities," but Raynham Park has reached mitigation agreements with them without arbitration.

Raynham Park signed agreements for annual mitigation payments of $50,000 with Middleboro on Dec. 16; $200,000 with Taunton on Nov. 12; $250,000 with West Bridgewater on Dec. 18; and $362,000 with Easton on Jan. 6.

The Gaming Commission's regulations establish a binding arbitration process that calls for the parties to select a "neutral, independent arbitrator" and submit their "best and final offers" to that arbitrator.

The arbitrator then has until Jan. 27 to file a report with the Gaming Commission specifying the terms of the surrounding community agreement that will be imposed if the parties can't reach an agreement.

Page 2 of 2 - The parties then have until Feb. 3 to sign their own agreement or the arbitrator's report becomes the final agreement.

Dutton said he's "neither optimistic nor pessimistic" about the prospects of the parties reaching their own agreement.

"I'm hopeful we're close enough to get an agreement before that point," Dutton said.

In terms of the other two contenders for slots, Plainville and Leominster, both have reached surrounding community agreements with all of the communities that hold that designation.

Plainville has reached agreements with Mansfield, North Attleboro, Wrentham and Foxboro.

Raynham has also reached agreements with Stoughton, Berkley, Lakeville and Rehoboth, which have all been designated "nearby communities." Those agreements provide no annual mitigation payments but instead state that the parties will jointly commission impact studies two years after the facility opens to determine if the nearby communities have experienced a negative impact and, if so, they will negotiate mitigation at that time.

No "nearby communities" were designated for Plainville or Leominster.

Raynham also signed an "Impacted Live Entertainment Venue" agreement with the South Shore Music Circus of Cohasset. The agreement provides for no monetary compensation but sets conditions for Raynham Park's own proposed live entertainment venue designed to limit the impact on the Music Circus.